I recently received a great message from a gentleman who got his first piercings at age 50. He wrote to say how much he likes emu oil, and how well it worked on his piercings and stretches:
Elayne -
I am compelled to contact you and thank you for the recommendation of using emu oil to help heal piercings. Just a quick update, I am I guess you would call a late bloomer, but got the urge to get a body piercing - at 50! While I may be 50 I act and think like I'm 25 again, and the body piercing was soemthing that I was thinking about for a long time.
Well, I did it - got my left earlobe and my left nipple pierced, and I went to a reliabel place in town here in Orlando called Axiom, who were extremely helpful, knowledgeable and considerate, especially when a 50 year old man like me walks in the door. But I had no fear, and went through the procedure - pain was not an issue, but the beauty I saw in the mirror, the allure of my pierced nipple was worth the effort. While I was there I had asked about genital piercings, as I was interested in a frenium, which I did just about a week later.
A couple of weeks after that I did a second frenium so now I have the 4 piercings. I tried the right nipple, but for some reason it just kept on being pushed out so I'm letting it rest for a while.
Hopefully you're still with me, because the best news was that I had gone to your website, and read about using the emu oil to heal the piercing wounds. While not easy to find at any retail store, I was able to get it at my local organic health food store (I'm a vegan as well) - Thunder Ranch is the one I got.
After applying it to the piercings as you had recommended, and keeping with it, the wounds healed almost miraculously, and any swelling or discomfort was gone. Better yet, I went back about 4 weeks after getting my left nipple pierced and wanted to get it streched from a 14 gauge to a 12 gauge; this was done with minimal discomfort for maybe a day or so.
After that, I went back two weeks after this stretching to see about going to a 10 gauge, which I thought would be too soon. Much to my amazement, the stretch was effortless, and the piercer remarked how easy it was - I probably could have gone even to an 8 gauge because how pliable the area was.
I told him it was the emu oil, and told him of your website and your recommendation to use it. He was so amazed at how it worked on an old fart like me he asked me where to get it because he was going to see about adding it to the store to help with the piercing customers. Just so you know, Axiom is very thorough with their procedures, and goes through aftercare in great detail, although they focus primarily on saline soaks to help the healing process.
Your insights have made a believer in me, and although I only have about 10% of the piercings you have, I treasure them and look at them as a way that I decorate the body that I have and the body that I love. I was thinking next about either a pubic or a lorum - or do you think that would be too much in the genital area?
Regardless, I wanted to thank you very much for the emu oil recommendation - it has made me a true believer and I may have already converted a very experienced piercer to believe as well!
P.
Hi P.
Thanks SO much for sharing your story. I'm delighted to hear that you're as much of a fan of emu oil as I am. Those of us who have experienced it's amazing affects become true believers and I can imagine that it may all sound a little "cultish" or like an exaggeration to those who haven't experienced the product.
If you want to pass word along to your piercer, I get mine from Desert Palms Emu and they do have wholesale pricing. One of my clients who used it on her piercings put it on her son, who was in a bad fireworks accident and received severe burns on his upper extremities and face. The doctors were AMAZED that he healed without any scarring as a result of emu oil!
If it makes you feel any better, I'm a tad older than you are, and I'm still proudly sporting my piercings and tattoos. You're as young as you feel, and I feel darned good! Glad to hear you do too!
Your enthusiasm for piercings is completely understandable, but I do want to caution you about going too fast. Enjoy the journey a bit more! Even if you are experiencing great healing, and easy stretching, I've seen that kind of think catch up to piercees who jump in too far, too fast. I believe that may have been part of the problem with your other nipple piercing not staying put. I'd suggest you wait 6 months or longer before getting any more piercings. That way you are assured that your body is not being overburdened. Also, stretching too fast can sometimes cause problems so do be careful!
I'm curious about you using an animal product since you're vegan--is it a matter of what you eat, rather than any use of animal products? I hesitate to suggest the emu oil to individuals who are vegan or vegetarian, so perhaps you can offer me some insight that I can use to offer it up to them?
Thanks!
Sincerely,
Elayne
Elayne Angel, Author
The Piercing Bible--The Definitive Guide to Safe Body Piercing
President, Association of Professional Piercers
http://piercingbible.com/
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